A An orange public notice of the zoning board’s Aug. 13 agenda is stapled to a utility pole in front of a lot owned by city councilman Pat Rogan. Jim Lockwood/staff photo

Pat Rogan takes questions during a debate for a city council position in the DeNaples Center at the University of Scranton on Wednesday, May 8, 2013.

In October, a consultant proposed to Scranton City Council placing cell towers on city properties.

About five months later, Councilman Pat Rogan bought a vacant lot in a West Scranton residential neighborhood.

Then in May, the Verizon Wireless consultant returned to council with three city park spots and received Mr. Rogan’s support.

Since then, Verizon Wireless proposed a 125-foot-tall cell tower on Mr. Rogan’s vacant lot at 905-907 W. Locust St. This application was on the zoning board’s agenda Wednesday but was not heard after Verizon Wireless requested a continuance of it to next month.

Mr. Rogan declined on Friday to discuss his arrangement with Verizon Wireless for a tower at his lot.

He referred to Verizon questions about how and when it chose his lot for a cell tower, the amount of monthly rent and the duration of a lease. He said a pact is contingent on zoning board approval. Efforts to reach a Verizon Wireless spokesman Friday were unsuccessful.

Mr. Rogan said he does not have a conflict of interest because the zoning board — not the council — would hear and decide the application involving his West Locust Street lot. If council were to vote on authorizing any lease of city land for a Verizon Wireless cell tower, Mr. Rogan said he likely would abstain from such a vote.

“My inclination would be to abstain, just to avoid any appearance of impropriety,” he said.

On Oct. 31, a site acquisition consultant for Verizon Wireless spoke before council, asking if it would be interested in leasing city properties, including Nay Aug Park, Weston Field and Cayuga Park, to the firm for cell towers.

The city could earn a minimum of $800 to $1,000 per month per site, the consultant had said.

Three former council members and Mr. Rogan each expressed interest in learning more. Mr. Rogan said such leases sounded like a good revenue stream for the city and he offered to speak with the consultant after that meeting, according to council’s minutes of that meeting.

On March 24, Mr. Rogan purchased a vacant, 40-foot-by-90-foot lot at 905-907 W. Locust St. for $1,810, according to public records of the Lackawanna County Assessor’s Office.

On May 15, the Verizon consultant returned to council. During a caucus, the consultant said that since his October visit, Verizon had scouted and assessed potential tower locations, and he pitched towers for the three parks.

At this caucus, Mr. Rogan introduced the consultant and gave a brief rundown of what had transpired since his visit in October. The consultant, Michael Oser of Blue Bell-based Network Building and Consulting, said he had been working Mr. Rogan, Mayor Bill Courtright and city solicitor Jason Shrive on the park sites, two of which would be flagpole towers.

Noting that Mulberry Tower across from City Hall has cell antennas and Dunmore has a flagpole cell tower, Mr. Rogan said, “Initially when people heard it, we were against it, until Mike explained it the way he did. You’re not actually going to see a cell phone tower. They’re flagpoles.”

Mr. Oser noted that the three city park sites were among 15 sites in the city he was working on, seven of which had leases ready to be signed.

In explaining how the firm selected the three parks as tower locations, Mr. Oser said, “I would never go to a family resident to say I want to put a big old monstrous cell phone tower on your front yard. Oh, they’ll sign the lease, but by the time the neighbors got through with me, I’d be dead walking out of the zoning hearing board. And besides, Verizon would be really annoyed with that.”

Mr. Rogan voiced support for the parks proposal, saying a go-ahead first would have to come from the administration and council would act later on legislation approving leases.

On Wednesday, the zoning board’s agenda had four Verizon Wireless cell tower applications, including Cayuga Park at 699 Cayuga St.; 905-907 W. Locust St.; 605 Davis St.; and 920 Hickory St. While the application for a tower on Mr. Rogan’s lot was not heard, the board approved the Cayuga Park tower and rejected the other two after residents objected to them.

The plan for a tower on Mr. Rogan’s lot calls for a 120-foot monopole topped with a 5-foot lightning rod, an equipment shelter, diesel generator and 6-foot-high wood batten fence and arborvitae trees around the perimeter.

An orange public notice of the zoning board’s Aug. 13 agenda is stapled to a utility pole in front of Mr. Rogan’s lot.

On the notice, in black marker, someone scribbled “owned by Pat Rogan.”

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